Milikin on Private Equity

[Tennessee Boy]

Milliken posted a rant a few days ago about the state of fishing industry and its effects on professional fishing.  What do you think?

 

[12poundbass]

He’s not wrong 

[J Francho]

I think he drew a pretty decent crank bait on the white board. He could have summed it all up in one sentence but that's hard to monetize. 

[ElGuapo928]

I think he hit the nail on the head.

[AlabamaSpothunter]

 @PhishLI, they must just not like you 🤣

 

Agreed it's an excellent video that all Bassheads should watch.

 

Even before the video I knew it was going against my best interests to buy tackle from the corporate web companies.    As it is I generally only buy their stuff when it's deeply discounted.   

[TOXIC]

That’s a whole different side of the industry that unless you’ve been involved with it you just don’t know.  Luckily for me in my 40+ years in the game, I have been involved with a lot of the back room antics including the bait designers, producers, sellers, overseas manufacturers, retailers and industry movers and shakers.  As for the tournaments, there’s still a valid point to be made that professional level fishing is the only sport where you are, for the most part, fishing for you and your competitors entry fees.  Name another professional sport where that is the case….

[J Francho]

Poker?

[PhishLI]

1 hour ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

@PhishLI, they must just not like you 🤣

Nooooo! Ya think?😇

[Tennessee Boy]

It’s a good video.  We all choose who we buy from and for most products we have plenty of choices.  These guys buy the classic fishing brands that we grew up with and they milk them for whatever they can get out of them.  They know we will keep buying the brand because we love the brand.  Money can buy you love and that’s why they do it.  I don’t think all private equity firms are bad.  Some buy the companies to make them better.   It’s the one’s that buy the company,  shut it down,  and exploit the brand(s) that we should not be buying from.  If this stuff bothers you then do your research before you buy. 

[Glenn]

This video has been hashed and rehashed several times already. It's absolutely NOTHING new at all. The industry has been this way for decades.  He knew it when he started, and he's known it all along.  To pretend it's something "secret" is nothing but pure sensationalism.

 

He's certainly got his clickbait worth out of it though.  

[NorthernBasser]

The majority of me can't really stand Ben. He just comes off as a giant, disrespectful *bleep*. 

 

But there's a part of me that respects the fact that he's the same person that he was when he was living in Nebraska, fishing ponds and spillways. And that he's someone who does things his own way and could give 2 *bleeps* what anyone thinks about him. 

 

The guy can fish, that's for sure. He's mastered FFS. 

[Susky River Rat]

I know pro motocross is the same way. You sign a factory deal you tow company line. It doesn’t matter what you like if it’s part of the team you run it. 
 

I did enjoy the video. It did open my eyes because this is the first year I have ever paid attention to pro fishing.  I think the reason I enjoy Ben is he is the “outlaw” of the pro fishing world. He also seems pretty candid. It could all be an act. I never will meet the dude. 

[Glenn]

This is the first you've heard about it?  We have many articles on the subject dating back to the year 2000.

https://www.bassresource.com/fishing-tournament-tips/bass-pro

 

Might want to read some our articles from time-to-time. 

 

[Columbia Craw]

We live in a capitalistic society.  Development, manufacturing and packaging of products is growing but off shore. Global economy impacts US based markets.  Manufacturing conglomerates can contract with multiple vendors at the same time and Brands can obtain in one month, a rod series or reel series with little capitol outlay.

 

Then the Brand must market this new variant and rotor will seek out facesg to become Label, the tangible pro who in hopes can provide reputable promotion for the product and get paid Doing i
 

This is the base model used by companies .  Then it morphs as companies are bought outrighthere or ll seeking to grow the brand and grab a part of the market share.

 

Before one knows it, the myths that an angler must have certain equipment to be competitive is imbedded in their phsycie and the buying begins in Ernest. Young anglers choose to get all the stuff heeled on them nd start in serious debt.

 

All this to hopefully identify with the top tier pros.  It happened in NASCAR, Golfing, Motocross and many other sports.  
 

TV bass fishing shows are little more than infomercials with 11 minutes of actual fish catching education.  It’s about tournament model that can provide product exposure to the masses and find shelf space. It’s moth new.

[Susky River Rat]

@Glenn I understand how sponsorships work. I raced motocross at a pretty decent level and was involved in sponsors. 

 

That is why I have no ambition to be sponsored or pro staffed at fishing. I know how it works. I do not want to be told I need to use this that, how to stand, what shirt to wear and I despise FB, IG, tic toc etc. I have a job I do not want fishing to be one. I think motocross and fishing have a very good parallel. You have the top x amount that are making a decent living on winnings/sal. The rest are busting it to keep doing it to be “pro”

 

You started BR back before a lot of the social media platforms we have today. You saw the writing on the wall in the professional fishing world.  You used your tech savvy to build this amazing site. You created a great fishing community here. It didn’t fall in your lap. you put your head down and busted it. You are a pioneer in what today’s angler needs to do to stay profitable in the fishing industry. 
 

what I was referring too was the fact none fishing companies were buying fishing companies up. Not the duties and responsibilities of sponsorships. 

[volzfan59]

5 hours ago, Susky River Rat said:

@Glenn I understand how sponsorships work. I raced motocross at a pretty decent level and was involved in sponsors. 

 

That is why I have no ambition to be sponsored or pro staffed at fishing. I know how it works. I do not want to be told I need to use this that, how to stand, what shirt to wear and I despise FB, IG, tic toc etc. I have a job I do not want fishing to be one. I think motocross and fishing have a very good parallel. You have the top x amount that are making a decent living on winnings/sal. The rest are busting it to keep doing it to be “pro”

 

You started BR back before a lot of the social media platforms we have today. You saw the writing on the wall in the professional fishing world.  You used your tech savvy to build this amazing site. You created a great fishing community here. It didn’t fall in your lap. you put your head down and busted it. You are a pioneer in what today’s angler needs to do to stay profitable in the fishing industry. 
 

what I was referring too was the fact none fishing companies were buying fishing companies up. Not the duties and responsibilities of sponsorships. 

I agree with you @Susky River Rat. I raced stock cars in the 80's and early 90's. It was fun until it became a second job. Moved up to the NASCAR weekly racing series, racing two and three nights a week became a grind. I sold out and started serious bass fishing. When tournament fishing got to be a grind, I gave it up too. Fishing is supposed to be fun.

[Susky River Rat]

@volzfan59 fishing, racing, hunting your “hobby sports” even at the top or near top level thrive off the side hustles.

[Choporoz]

I've been yelling for many years ..... shareholder power and short term profits are likely ruinous to most any industry ... not just hobby/sports industries.  Long term vision, community / environmental stewardship, employee welfare, etc.  are all too often taking a backseat to near term profit-taking and we are all worse off for that

[txchaser]

I'll give him an A+ for the whiteboard and timmy, it was pretty funny. 

 

The big piece he's missing is that no one's getting rich. They thought they were, but they aren't. Love em or hate em, the guys that did the mega rollups in fishing are getting their butt kicked and will likely lose all their investors money. 

 

For what it's worth I think GSM has done a nice job with Yamamoto so far. No affiliation whatoever with GSM or Gary on my end, just as a consumer I buy more stuff from them now. We'll see how they do with Big bite.

[ElGuapo928]

1 hour ago, txchaser said: 

 

For what it's worth I think GSM has done a nice job with Yamamoto so far. No affiliation whatoever with GSM or Gary on my end, just as a consumer I buy more stuff from them now. We'll see how they do with Big bite.

I’ve been drifting away from Yamamoto since GSM involvement. They’ve gutted the product line and color catalog to not even a shell of what it once was. Discontinuation of the single tail Hula Grub and the Tiny Ika cut a huge part of my annual bait expenditures. 

[TOXIC]

@ElGuapo928 I can tell you from the inside that there are some changes I didn’t agree with but in keeping with the theme of this post, GSM came in and did a skew study on which baits/colors were the most popular and selling the most.  They based their changes on that data.  It’s a trade off with all of the new baits they have introduced.  So there’s increasing production profitability and balancing with increasing risk with new offerings.  The old management was exactly the opposite.  I’m on the fence, but so far the new products have been producing.  

[Tennessee Boy]

11 hours ago, txchaser said:

The big piece he's missing is that no one's getting rich.

I agree.  I’m sure all of the private equity firms that have taken turns owning True Fishing have figured that out.

[Skunkmaster-k]

I’m not a rocket surgeon, but even I knew that interest in fishing would decline after the dust settled . 

[Columbia Craw]

I’d like to hear Steve Kennedy’s thoughts.

[ElGuapo928]

10 hours ago, TOXIC said:

@ElGuapo928 I can tell you from the inside that there are some changes I didn’t agree with but in keeping with the theme of this post, GSM came in and did a skew study on which baits/colors were the most popular and selling the most.  They based their changes on that data.  It’s a trade off with all of the new baits they have introduced.  So there’s increasing production profitability and balancing with increasing risk with new offerings.  The old management was exactly the opposite.  I’m on the fence, but so far the new products have been producing.  

Honestly with the exception of the tanuki, I have no use for any of the GSM additions. Big flappy craws and 10” worms don’t qualify as “subtle”, which is pretty much a requirement in this part of the country.